Alex Cora was knocking it out of the park with the Red Sox before he even landed the manager job in Boston.
In a recent column for Sports Illustrated, Tom Verducci highlighted the Red Sox’s interview process with Cora, who clearly made quite the impression on the team’s brass during the courtship phase. However, there was one aspect of Cora’s approach that the franchise reportedly wasn’t initially sold on upon initial meetings.
While owner John Henry and Co. were impressed by Cora’s confidence, the young skipper’s proposed handling of reducing a star’s playing time wasn’t viewed as a home run.
“We thought he aced everything but that,” a team source told Verducci. “I’ve seen clubhouses torn apart when a star player gets benched and becomes a part-time player. Frankly, his answer came across as naive.”
Cora’s approach of simply putting the best team out there worked out and then some. The release of Hanley Ramirez in late May paved the way for Mitch Moreland to earn his first career All-Star nod as well as the trade for Steve Pearce, who earned MVP honors in the Red Sox’s World Series win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
“Well, I guess he did ace the entire test,” the source told Verducci.
It was a coaching masterclass by Cora from mid-February to late-October, leaving little doubt that the Red Sox themselves aced the test of finding the ideal manager.
